"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." - President Ronald Reagan
My guess is that most people don't know much about his younger days in Dallas, Texas. Over the years, I've seen some great players in person and TV. Sadly, I never got to see Ernie Banks in person but do recall hearing #500 on WGN radio.
Banks was a great player. Better than that, he was a great human being.
We will miss Ernie Banks for a long time.
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We remember Jackie Robinson, who was born in Cairo, Georgia, on this day in 1919. He died October 24, 1972. Robinson was one of the biggest sports stories of the 20th century, as we see in this biography from his Hall of Fame page:
At the end of his first season, Robinson was named the Rookie of the Year. He was named the NL MVP just two years later in 1949, when he led the league in hitting with a .342 average and steals with 37, while also notching a career-high 124 RBI. The Dodgers won six pennants in Robinson’s 10 seasons, but his contributions clearly extended far beyond the field.
He retired with a .311 career batting average plus 137 HR & 734 RBI in 1,382 games.
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On this day in 1865, the US House passed the 13th Amendment. It was sent to the states for ratification and approved in November.
President Lincoln just gets better with age. He was the right man at the most critical moment in US history. A few years ago, a great movie came out about his efforts to pass the 13th amendment that abolished slavery. It was a great movie!
Barbara Tuchman was born in New York City on this day in 1912. She died in 1989. She wrote several books such as "The march of folly" that I read in the 1980's. However, it was ''The Guns of August,'' a book about World War I, that made her famous. It was about the background and events that led the world to war in 1914.
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Edmundo (Isasi) Amoros was born in La Habana on this day in 1930. He died in Miami in 1992.
He was an extra outfielder in those great Brooklyn teams who played the New York Yankees in 6 World Series between 1947 and 1956. The Yankees and Dodgers were the two best teams in baseball during that period.
Kansas became the 28th state on this day in 1861. It was not easy because the nation was about to fight what we now call The Civil War. The admittance into the Union increased tensions over slavery. It turned out that Kansas suffered the highest rate of fatal casualties of any Union state. Today, Kansas is a prosperous state and reliably Republican vote. It has a population of 3 million people and a strong economy.
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On this day in 1958, Roy Campanella was involved in a career ending car accident. And so ended Campy's career. He never played again. The injury happened a few months after the Dodgers had played their last game in Brooklyn. Campy was selected to The Hall of Fame in 1969. He died in 1993. Campanella was the catcher & 3-time NL MVP on the 1955 Brooklyn team that won the World Series.
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We remember Thomas Paine who was born in the UK on this day in 1737. In 1774, Paine arrived in Philadelphia and soon came to support American independence. "Common sense" should be required reading in high school. Every American kid should be introduced to Paine's ideas.
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"On January 28, 1959, the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) sign Vince Lombardi to a five-year contract as the team's coach and general manager."
Lombardi inherited a 1-10-1 team but he turned the organization around quickly. Green Bay won 3 NFL titles and the first 2 Super Bowls. Without question, the Packers were the most successful team of the 1960's. As a result, the Super Bowl Trophy is named after Coach Lombardi.
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We remember General Douglas McArthur, who was born on this day in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1880. He graduated from West Point in 1903 and went on to serve in World War I. In World War II, McArthur was the commander of Allied forces in the Pacific. In 1951, President Truman dismissed him for differences over the Korean War. The general died in 1964.
Jose Marti was born in Cuba on this day in 1853. His parents were Spanish and settled on the island. At the time, Cuba was a Spanish colony and Marti's generation played a major role in the long and very costly Cuban War of Independence. My father's grandfather was part of that generation and stood up to Spain in the second half of the 19th century. My grandmother’s cousin actually fought in that conflict.
Marti was more of an intellectual than a warrior. His poetry and books are read in every university all over the world. In 1966, one of his poems or "versos sencillos" became the lyrics for "Guantanamera" the pop song recorded by The Sandpipers. ("Yo soy un hombre sincero de donde crece la palma" or "I am a truthfull man from the land of palm trees")
Marti was killed in 1895 in a confrontation with Spanish troops. It happened a couple of years before the Maine exploded in Havana's harbor and the U.S. intervened.
From our early days in the U.S., my father had a picture of Jose Marti on the wall of his home office where he'd play chess. It was next to a pre-Castro "peso bill" with Marti's picture framed on the wall. It was nostalgia and a reminder that the pre-Castro peso actually had the same value as a dollar. My father was a banker in Cuba, so he knew a thing or two about the exchange rates.
Marti's picture was a part of our family pictures on the wall. It was there between our First Communion photos, my parents' wedding, the grandparents and other souvenirs from Cuba. My guess is that most Cuban families have a picture of Marti on their walls too.
My parents also had a Marti quote on their wall:
"Nunca son más bellas las playas del destierro que cuando se les dice adiós."
It loosely translates to “The beaches of the exile are never more beautiful that when you wave good-bye to them.” It's a reminder that many Cubans came to the U.S. hoping for a return to a free Cuba. As my mother used to say, the quote took her back to a beautiful and lovely place called Cuba.
So we remember Jose Marti today and all of those conversations that I had with my late father about the man he called "The Apostle of Cuban independence."
In the late 1970's, Grupo Laredo took Jose Marti's verses and released a wonderful album. P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
'Odio la máscara y vicio Del corredor de mi hotel:
Me vuelvo al manso bullicio De mi monte de laurel.
Con los pobres de la tierra Quiero yo mi suerte echar:
El arroyo de la sierra Me complace más que el mar
Denle al vano el oro tierno Que arde y brilla en el crisol:
On this day in 1888, a group of geographers, explorers, teachers, lawyers, cartographers, military officers and financiers met in Washington DC. They eventually founded The National Geographic Society. Nine months later, the Society started publishing the magazine that we grew up reading.
By this time in 1956, my Uncle Jose (or Tio Pepe as we called him) was starting his career in Cuba. He graduated as an architect, practiced a bit in Cuba, married Tia Carmen and eventually ended up in Puerto Rico where he had a firm. He passed away in 2008 and she died in 2018. Over the years, my uncle was a huge source of Cuban stories, specially the non-political ones. Back in 1956, my uncle and his friends started listening to Elvis and rock. He told me that Elvis was very popular along with Bill Haley, Chuck Berry and some of the others. Elvis Presley's international career began on this day in 1956 with the release of "Heartbreak Hotel" on RCA Records. Elvis had recorded for Sam Phillips and Sun Records in 1954-55. "Heartbreak Hotel" became his first # 1 on Billboard USA and introduced the world to the man we call the "King of rock". The B-side "I was the one" got some airplay, too. Elvis never made it to Cuba because of the events of 1959. Wonder if he'd made a movie call "Fun in Varadero" or "Viva Havana" if things had turned out different? My guess is yes! P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk). If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column.
We remember another anniversary of the Apollo I tragedy on this day in 1967. The men killed that day were Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward H White and Roger B Chafee. They died in capsule fire a few weeks before their launch date. The tragedy was a great loss for NASA. At the same time, the "bench" was so deep that other men stepped up and Apollo 11 landed on the moon in July 1969.
We remember Paul Newman, who was born in Cleveland on this day in 1925. He became one of the top movie stars of the 20th century, from "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (1956) to "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' (1958) to "Exodus" (1960) to "The Hustler" (1961) to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) to "The sting" (1974). It was a long and successful career. Newman died in 2008.
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Cesar Gutierrez was born in Venezuela on this day in 1943. He died in 2005. He hit .235 over 223 games. His best season was 1970 when he played in 135 games with Detroit. We remember him for going 7-for-7 in a 12-inning game in 1970. He had 128 career hits but 7 in the aforementioned game. His contract was purchased by the Expos but did not play in 1972. Cesar's big day earned him a place in baseball history books.
Jamesetta Hawkins was born in Los Angeles on this day in 1938. We know her as Etta James, one of the most unique voices of pop music. Her career started with gospel music and she eventually recorded in Chicago. She was the opening act with The Rolling Stones for a time in the 1980's and sang in the opening ceremonies of the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics. Etta won 2 Grammys for her work.
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The Beatles had another # 1 double hit this week in 1966. The A-side was "We can work it out"/ The B-side was "Day Tripper". Both songs were included in the "Yesterday and Today" LP but in the US. You can also find them in "Past masters" or "1962-66".
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Sharon Tate was born in Dallas, Texas, on this day in 1943. Sharon was killed by Charles Manson in 1969. It was an awful story because Sharon was pregnant and apparently alone in a ranch. Sharon Tate was in various films, such as "Valley of the Dolls" in 1967.
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We remember Winston Churchill who passed away on this day in 1965. He was 90. Churchill was one of the great leaders of the 20th century and UK Prime Minister 1940-1945 and 1951-55. Churchill was also a great author and won The Nobel Prize in Literature for his six-volume books of World War II and for political speeches.
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A few days ago, I heard "Silhouette" by Herman's Hermits. This song was originally recorded back in the late 1950'ss by The Rays, a "doo wop" group. Herman's Hermits released it during the days of the so-called British Invasion of the US pop charts, or 1964-66. Herman's Hermits was very popular in our home. In fact, my sister's pet canary was named Herman, a.k.a. Peter Noone! My sister had Herman posters all over her room, along with Paul McCartney, Barry Gibb, Davy Jones and a few others! "Silhouette" is one of two songs that I can recall about watching "a girl" in the window. The other is "From a window" recorded by Billy J Kramer in 1964, or in the middle of Beatlemania & The British Invasion mentioned above. It was written by Lennon-McCartney but never released by The Beatles.
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We remember Winston Churchill who passed away on this day in 1965. He was 90. Churchill was one of the great leaders of the 20th century and UK Prime Minister 1940-1945 and 1951-55. Churchill was also a great author and won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his six-volume history of World War II and for political speeches. Churchill apparently fell in love with Cuban cigars during a visit to the island circa 1895. My late father once told me that the Cuban embassy in London would often deliver Mr. Churchill a complimentary box of cigars. Eventually those long cigars that he smoked came to be known as "Churchill". Cuba was still a Spanish colony at the time of young Winston’s visit or three years before the Spanish American War that paved the way to Cuban independence in 1902. According to H.P. Klepak, author of "Churchill Comes of Age, Cuba 1895", the young Churchill spent 18 days in Cuba.
He was there on loan from the British army to observe colonial Spain’s defense against independence fighters, as Klepak said in an interview:
History previously recorded that Churchill saw combat in Cuba and discovered the siesta, which would later help him keep long hours as British prime minister during World War Two. But Klepak, a former Canadian military officer, argues previous works overlooked how influential the Cuban venture was, including the months of maneuvering Churchill needed to land his assignment. With his Cuba experience he became a war correspondent, political analyst, strategist and liaison with a foreign army, all for the first time. His writings start to show legendary humor. He discovers rum and Cuban cigars’ breadth and quality. Inspired by observations from local historian Lourdes Mendez, Klepak believes he became the first to scrutinize and cross-check the Cuban, British and Spanish archives, discovering for example that Churchill was fired upon by no less than Antonio Maceo and Maximo Gomez, two of Cuba’s greatest independence leaders. “Very quickly when I looked at it from a historical perspective it was pretty obvious that this was an amazing story which for some reason had never been told,” Klepak said.
Neat story. This is also a book that you may want to pick up when you need a break from politics. It is another chapter in the amazing life of one of the most important figures of the 20th century. P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).This is the book:
North Korea's brazen capture of the Pueblo caught Washington flat-footed.
"What's your speculation on what happened?" President Lyndon Johnson is recorded asking the next morning in a phone call to Defense Secretary Robert McNamara.
"Mr. President, I honestly don't know," McNamara replies. "I think we need a Cuban missile crisis approach to this, and goddamn it, we ought to get locked in a room and you ought to keep us there, insist we stay there, until we come up with answers to three questions: what was the Korean objective, why did they do it; secondly, what are they going to do now — blackmail us, let it go; and thirdly, what should we do now?"
Why did they do it? North Korea saw a Johnson administration with too much on its plate, from the Tet Offensive to the deteriorating political situation over here. It saw an opportunity and made their move. The Johnson administration took the punch and did not punch back.
The crew of the USS Pueblo spent eleven months in North Korea. Why didn't the U.S. respond to a clear act of war? Again, weakness always sends the wrong message. It invites more, not less!
History does not repeat itself exactly. Nevertheless, the bad guys can see a weak U.S. president a mile away. My guess is that they saw more of that weakness during the press conference last week.
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